1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to an apparatus for centering and shaping dough pieces or loaves or the like between two treatment machines in a commercial breadmaking line for the production of bread and similar products, notably between a dividing and weighing machine and a prefermentation chamber, or between a prefermentation chamber and a shaping and elongating machine in this line.
2. THE PRIOR ART
Traditionally, when the dough mixing step is completed, the mixed dough is directed to a dividing and weighing machine which delivers dough loaves which are subsequently transferred to a rounder in order to convert each loaf into a ball, these dough balls being then delivered to a belt conveyor. This belt conveyor transfers the dough balls to a prefermentation chamber from which another conveyor belt transfers the prefermented balls to a shaping and elongating machine when it is desired to obtain long bread or loaves.
In fact, though on the whole the dough pieces received from the rounder or the prefermentation chamber have the same weight, their shape may vary considerably.
Theoretically, these dough pieces should be ball-shaped, but in actual practice they have the appearance of unshapely cakes and differ appreciably from one another, a feature most likely to be prejudicial to the next operations.
Moreover, notably when the dough pieces are brought directly by the conveyor belt to the molding or rolling section of a shaping and elongating machine, the elongated loaves issuing from this machine are in a rather eccentric relationship to one another; besides, their lengths differ considerably and they are laid on the next conveyor belt at an irregular rate.
In an ordinary baker's shop, these inconveniences are not really detrimental since an operator picks up manually the dough pieces as they emerge from the shaping and elongating machine. While the operator lays the dough pieces manually on their fermentation support, he corrects the defects as they turn up.
On the other hand, in commercial baking the above-mentioned inconveniences are extremely detrimental. Therefore, the remedy consists in:
either appointing an operator for correcting these defects manually, this measure contrasting with the aims of industrial production methods,
or interposing mechanical means adapted to correct the defects after the shaping operation, but in the present state of the art this intervention can only be carried out by using rather empirical means.
Irregularities in the final products are generally not ascribable to defects inherent to shaping-elongating machines but in many instances these defects are due to alignment and shape discrepancies in the dough pieces conveyed by the endless belt and also to differences in the rate at which these pieces are introduced into the molding or rolling section of the shaping and elongating machine.
Thus, not only a faulty alignment, that is, the presence of dough pieces axially off-set in relation to the axis of the shaping-elongating machine, but also differences in shape have noxious repercussions at the outlet end of the shaping-elongating machine. In fact, the elongated or oblong balls delivered by this machine have different lengths and are off-centered, especially when a dough piece has a greater volume on one side than on the other side of its path.
Even if it is assumed that the dough pieces are translated at a regular rate along the conveyor belt, there is by no means any certainty that the balls emerging from the shaping-elongating machine are delivered at a regular rate from the machine rollers. In fact, when a ball-shaped dough piece fed by the conveyor belt is delivered to these rollers, this piece will usually slip during a variable time on the rollers before it is caught by these rollers. This slippage difference, of the order of a few tenths of a second, between successive balls is attended by appreciable variations in the output rate of the elongated loaves emerging from the shaping-elongating machine, since the balls in an industrial baking plant are fed at a rate of one every two seconds, and even at a faster rate in certain bread manufacturing plants.
Various attempts have been made in order to remedy these inconveniences. Thus, for example, conveyors with endless belts with up-turned side edges have been proposed in order better to center the dough pieces before introducing them into the shaping-elongating machine. For the same purpose, a kind of funnel was arranged between the feed conveyor and the rollers of the shaping machine. Furthermore, in order to equalize the height of the dough pieces and force these pieces into the shaping-elongating machine, a fixed or travelling band was disposed above the delivery end of the feed conveyor.
However, these various empirical means did not give really satisfactory results, for it appeared that their action was far from positive and therefore inadequate for levelling the irregularities of the elongated balls or loaves obtained at the outlet end of the shaping-elongating machine.